The Historic Seed Collection

The Swedish Museum of Cultural History (Nordiska museet) seed collection contains more than 3300 collects from more than 500 different species. The bulk of the collection consists of cereal collects, wheat, barley, rye and oats, but the collection also contains a large number of seeds from vegetables, legumes, fodder crops etc. There are also a smaller number of collects of trees, bushes, weeds etc. The earliest collects are from 1862 and the newest are collected in 1918. A large part of the collection are landraces collected from all over Sweden in 1867 and 1896. In addition, seeds from agricultural exhibitions and private collections from Finland, Italy, Hungary, France, US and other countries around the world are included.

The seeds are sadly no longer viable. However, DNA can be extracted and though the DNA is degraded the collection can still be analysed from a genetic viewpoint.